Browsing Tag
Prehistoric
3 posts
Prehistoric Volcanoes Heated Earth in a Global Chain Reaction
New evidence suggests an origin to an exceptionally hot period in Earth’s historyGiant's Causeway in Northern Ireland is part of the North Atlantic Igneous Province. Credit: Clearview/Alamy Stock Photo Climate experts have warned for decades of “tipping points” at which modern global warming might cause a cascade of accelerating, irreversible effects. Now geologists are beginning…
How a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity’s technological revolution
Clovis spearheads. Credit: wikimedia, CC BY-SA For the first few million years of human evolution, technologies changed slowly. Some three million years ago, our ancestors were making chipped stone flakes and crude choppers. Two million years ago, hand-axes. A million years ago, primitive humans sometimes used fire, but with difficulty. Then, 500,000 years ago, technological…
Prehistoric New Guineans May Have Collected Cassowary Eggs to Hatch and Rear Chicks
As early as 18,000 years ago, early foragers in the montane rainforests of New Guinea preferentially collected eggs of cassowaries (Casuarius sp.) in late stages of embryonic growth and may have hatched them to rear chicks, according to an analysis of ancient eggshells from two Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene rock shelter sites in eastern New Guinea.…